Porter Wagoner Found Dolly Parton’s Voice ‘Irritating’ When He First Heard Her
Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton worked closely together for years. Her career took off after she joined his show as a singer, and he continued to produce for her after she left the program. He eventually fought to continue working with her. When he first heard about Parton, though, he didn’t think she’d be a good fit for his show. He admitted he didn’t particularly like her voice.
Porter Wagoner wasn’t a fan of Dolly Parton’s voice when he first heard it
According to Parton, Wagoner reached out to her to talk about his show. He invited her to play several songs for him, even though he wasn’t sold on her singing voice. He found it too high-pitched.
“It was kind of irritating,” he said, per the book Ain’t Nobody’s Fool by Martha Ackmann.
Still, Wagoner met with Parton. This, and her songwriting, ended up winning him over.
“There was a lot that sold me on Dolly, but I think the deciding factor was Dolly’s personality — her warmth, her sincerity, her bein’ a real person,” he said, per the book Dolly by Alanna Nash. “She’s the kind of girl you can take anywhere under any conditions to meet anyone, and they’d like her … She has the type of personality I could sell to people on television and in person.”
She was on The Porter Wagoner Show from 1967 to 1974.
She has been critical of her singing voice
Parton may not have been offended by Wagoner’s early assessment of her voice because she felt the same way.
“My manager just hates me to say that, because he says it’s not true. I don’t have a great voice,” she told Playboy in 1978. “I have a different voice and I can do things with it that a lot of people can’t. But it’s so delicate in other ways, there’s no way I can do some of the things other singers can.”
She likes to sing, but doesn’t think her voice is for everyone.
“I used to have a lot of vibrato in my voice. It could almost be real irritating to a lot of people’s ears. It was a natural thing for me, but some people say, ‘You sound like you been eating billy goat.’ Bah, bah,” she said. “I guess I overdone it, so I tried to learn at takin’ some of the vibrato out. I would like to improve my voice to be able to hit better notes. My notes are not always true. But my heart is always true. And the emotions I put in is always true.”
Porter Wagoner later told Dolly Parton that a record executive didn’t like her voice
Early in Parton’s partnership with Wagoner, he wanted her on the same label as him. When he talked to Parton about it, he told her that Chet Atkins, the head of RCA, didn’t like her voice. Wagoner told Parton that he fought for her. Atkins denied that this ever happened.
“When Porter brought me her tape, I listened to it and I said, ‘She’s fine,’” Atkins said “I suppose Porter just told Dolly I didn’t like her to strengthen himself with her. But I’ve always loved Dolly, and I am telling you the truth.”
Atkins heard Parton tell this story on the radio and felt shocked.
